Games for Kids to Pass Time

I Spy

• The old road trip classic, I Spy is a simple game for children of all ages that can continue on as long as the players involved have patience. One child looks out the window or inside the room the players are in and says, "I spy, with my little eye, something..." and from there they can say a color or that the object starts with a letter of the alphabet. From there the other players can ask 20 Questions style yes or no questions to get closer to the correct answer or they can simply guess.

Alphabet Game

• This game can be played on the road or in your house. In the alternating version of this game, two or more players will alternate between being the player who is "it." The "it" player must find an object through the window or in the house that starts with the letter A. Once he has, the next player who is "it" looks for an object that starts with B, and so on until Z. The competitive game involves all players looking for all letters in order. They cannot both use the same object. The first player to get all the letters wins.

Name That Tune

• This musical game tests your children's ears. One player begins by humming or whistling one note of a song. The other players must try to guess the song. If they cannot, the player hums two notes, and continues to add notes as the other players try to guess. Score can be kept if desired, but often just playing is fun enough. The player who guesses the song becomes the new singer.

Rhyme Time

• This simple game can be played on road trips, at home, or stuck in line at the grocery store. With younger kids, you will start off by rhyming a few words, like "blue," "shoe" and "grew" until they get the hang of it. Give them a word and then let them try to rhyme it. If they have trouble, correct them kindly and give them a few more examples. It is perfectly fine if they make up words. For older children, you can have them rhyme two sentences together.

Animal Guessing Game

• Each player has a turn to say an animal sound, while the other players attempt to guess what animal noise is being made. Start with the simple animals like those on the farm but then you can move on to other locations like the forest or the desert. For older kids you can have each player try to describe an animal with three clues while the other players attempt to guess what it is.